Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I do not own James, Miss Moneypenny or M.

The next morning Penny awoke to the smell of bacon and eggs that were placed neatly on a plate by the side of the bed. She smiled, but didn't feel hungry at all. She didn't want to be rude though so slowly picked up the tray and placed it in front of her and began to eat. When she had eaten as much as she could stomach she tossed the bed covers aside and picked the tray up and walked into the kitchen and placed it on the side. She looked around to see where James had disappeared to. But when she turned around she saw him standing right behind her.

"Oh James…you gave me a fright!" She squealed.

"Sorry Penny, I didn't mean to scare you but we have to get going soon. M wants to see you in his office in an hour." Bond replied.

"Oh I see…But James aren't the police going to want to question me about last night?"

Then suddenly she felt a chill run down her spine. She had killed one of the henchmen and if the police had already been to her apartment they would have seen the gun that she stupidly didn't dispose of. Her face turned pure white and she slumped to the floor.

"Penny, it's ok, we are going to sort everything out." Bond said quickly as he lifted her up from the floor.

"But James..I.. I killed someone." She mumbled. "The man who I thought was going to…"

But before she could continue, so as not to make her relive the whole situation, Bond put his finger to her lips.

"Penny you don't need to worry about that, it's all being sorted, but the police will want to speak to you about your husband." Bond explained.

Penny suddenly had a flashback of the last moments she shared with her husband and the fact that her last words to him had been "What do you want for dinner tonight dear?" Hardly the goodbye speech she would have said to him if she had known what was to become of him. She pondered this thought for a moment, before turning back to James.

"I can't, I just can't James." She pleaded.

"Jane…." Bond said as Penny turned away from him and headed towards the bedroom to get changed. She immediately turned back to face him. He had never called her by her first name before, and it seemed it was because what he was saying was serious.

"Well, fine then if it will make you be quiet then ok. But James, please come with me." Penny asked.

"Of course, darling Penny."

Penny smiled slightly and then suddenly remembered she had nothing to wear, all her clothes were back at her flat. Before she could turn to ask James, he had disappeared. She frowned but decided to find him, but as she began walking towards his bedroom he appeared holding a coral coloured shift dress with matching shoes.

"This is for you Penny, I realised you had no other clothes so went out first thing this morning to buy it for you whilst you were sleeping." Bond exclaimed to a nearly speechless Penny.

"Oh James, the dress is beautiful and the shoes are gorgeous. But you didn't have to it must have cost you a fortune?" Penny said excitedly.

Bond just smiled and gave her the dress and shoes. Penny stood admiring the dress while Bond disappeared into his room. Penny stood at the door way and peered into his room. This was one place that she had never been, seeing as she had only been to his flat once before. Bond caught her looking around and she blushed when she knew he had seen her. He smiled and walked over to where she was standing and put his hand under her chin so they had perfect eye contact. Their eyes locked for a few seconds before he went to kiss her lips but she quickly broke away and just smiled and then walked back off to the guest room to get changed. She felt scared that James only wanted her there so he could get her in his bed and add another notch to his bed post. But then she shook her head at these thoughts. James was so kind and loving towards her, he treated her much different to any of the women he came into contact with. To him, Penny was the perfect woman but one that was not to be messed with.

Bond and Penny both got dressed and Bond led her to his Aston Martin that was parked outside, he opened the door to let her in. They drove to MI6 where M was already waiting for them both.

"Miss Moneypenny I give you my utmost sympathy for your loss and I am so sorry to hear of the ordeal you had to endure." M said apologetically.

Penny nodded and turned to James who put his arm around her to comfort her.

"Now, 007 if you could wait here please, the Police are waiting to talk to Miss Moneypenny in my office." M exclaimed.

"Yes sir." Bond replied.

Penny glanced over to Bond who smiled reassuringly. This was enough for Penny to know that she would be ok. As she walked into M's office, two police officers were waiting patiently. One was tall with a moustache and jet black hair, the other was also tall but with grey hair. They both acknowledged that Penny had entered the room and gestured for her to sit down on a chair on the other side of M's desk. The two men quizzed Penny for about half an hour before they were satisfied and let her leave the room. As she walked out of the door, Bond was waiting with a warm embrace and the reassuring smile on his face again made Penny feel safe.

"So, what did they say?" Bond asked anxiously.

"Well, I told them about everything that had happened and what the two men in my flat had said about this organisation that Matthew supposedly worked for and they said that they had no further questions and let me go." Penny replied

"Well then, everything seems to be in order here but there's still the rather huge problem that there is an organisation that wants to blow up this building, presumably with the people in it as well." M interrupted before Bond could speak.

Penny and Bond glanced over to M and both their faces were filled with anxiety. Penny still felt dishevelled from the previous day's events but had to try to stay positive, even though her husband had been murdered and had lied to her throughout the whole of their relationship. This made her feel angry, hurt and depressed beyond belief.

"Now, Miss Moneypenny, may I suggest that we find you suitable accommodation until your flat has been fully restored and the investigations have finished, but of course this won't be for a very long time. But I assume you may not want to have to go back?" M explained.

"Oh, Sir that won't be necessary as Miss Moneypenny will be staying in the guest room of my apartment whilst everything is being sorted." Bond replied quickly.

M raised an eyebrow at 007's proposition and just thought he would use this as an advantage.

"007, I do not wish you to take advantage of my best secretary, and I do not wish you to meddle with her emotions." M scolded.

"Sir, James has taken good care of me so far, and I assume he will do in the future, so I trust him." Penny suddenly piped up.

"This is all very well you saying this Miss Moneypenny, but both you and I know exactly the sort of activities shall I put it, that 007 likes to get up to when he is in the company of a lady. And I do not wish him to abuse this fact with you."

Penny smiled and began to blush at the thought of James performing such 'activities' in her presence. But she couldn't think such thoughts, as she knew full well that the sexual banter in the office between her and James was merely for fun and nothing more. However much she would like it to amount to more, she had to forget all hope. She was in a vulnerable position now with the death of Matthew who was the only man she thought she loved dearly. But perhaps he was just a replacement for the one she truly loved. Her thoughts were so mixed right now. The kiss that James had tried to initiate earlier that day in his flat made her feel so flustered and scared. It was what she had dreamt of, but yet it did not seem right at that moment.

"Sir, it will be fine, I have already agreed anyway, and it is very kind of James to let me stay with him." Penny reassured.

M frowned but then eventually nodded and dismissed both of them, but briefed Bond about the situation concerning the terrorism attack on MI6 beforehand. Everyone at MI6 would have to keep on their guard and until they had further information of the group behind it, the whole building was in jeopardy.

As Bond and Penny left MI6, there was a dead silence, as neither knew what to say to each other. Bond opened the door of his Aston Martin for her and she stepped in. As they sped off back towards Chelsea, the dead silence that continued in the car made things uncomfortable. Bond was worried that his speech about Penny staying at his flat until she was back on her feet to M had meant that he would be sleeping with her during this time. Penny felt equally worried that M thought this but tried not to think about it. Suddenly Bond decided to break the ever increasing silence in the car.

"Penny, I want you to know that you should always feel safe staying with me, I won't let anyone hurt you anymore."

"James, I know." Penny replied, with a smile.

When they arrived back at Bond's flat, he received a call from M, saying that it had been organised that Penny's possessions would be retrieved from her apartment and taken to Bond's flat. Penny felt an ounce of happiness at this kind gesture. That afternoon, she spent going over and over in her head her current situation and she would often have emotional moments where tears would come flooding down her cheeks that she could not control. Bond often heard her cry and came to comfort her. On one particular occasion, he embraced her and then rested her head on the pillow and wiped away her tears and suggested that she get some rest.

"James, please don't leave me, I'm scared."

"You don't need to worry Penny I'm only in the next room."

"Thank you James."

As Penny slept she tossed and turned in her sleep, having nightmares about her ordeal all over again. She awoke in a cold sweat and screaming. As soon as Bond heard he came rushing in to see Penny curled up hugging the pillow. Bond sat on the edge of the bed and pulled her in close onto his chest and stroked her curly brown hair, running his fingers through it.

"Penny, its ok I'm here now."

The pair stayed like this for the next hour and Penny fell asleep again, still with her head rested on Bond's chest. He daren't move or leave the room for fear she would suffer the same nightmare again. He too fell asleep, with his arm around Penny for protection.

Bond awoke the next morning, still in the same clothes from the day before. He glanced over to see Penny staring at him with a smile on her face.

"Thank you James, for staying with me last night."

"Oh, it was my pleasure Penny, anything for you dear." Bond whispered into her ear.

She blushed and immediately got out of bed. She headed for the bathroom and appeared when she had showered and dressed. Bond was still lying in bed, and smiled as she walked back over to him.

"Come on James, you can't stay there all day, as much as I'm sure you'd love it." Penny teased.

"Well my darling I could indeed stay here all day long, but it wouldn't be any fun if you weren't with me now would it?" Bond replied.

Penny blushed even more and went to clear her throat when the doorbell rang. She walked briskly to answer it and discovered that it was her possessions and clothes being brought round just like M had promised. As she began to carry them back to the guest room, Bond emerged and helped her. The pair spent the rest of the morning unpacking Penny's clothes and Bond teasing her about a silk nightdress he found in one of the boxes. As they teased each other about it, Penny felt almost relieved that she was staying with James, but she was still worried for both of their well being and the wellbeing of everyone at MI6 with the terrorist plot on everyone's minds. As Penny tried to forget these thoughts she found a framed photograph of her and Matthew on their wedding day. She suddenly stopped and the smile disappeared from her face, which at first Bond hadn't noticed. She noticed how happy the pair looked in the photo and then felt almost physically sick that everything had been one big lie. She then found another photo of her, Bond, M and Q all standing together with champagne glasses in their hands at the wedding. Bond saw her looking at both photos and put his arm around her shoulder.

"Penny, you looked so beautiful that day, I mean even more so than you usually do."

"James, what did it feel like when you lost Tracey?" Penny asked, knowing that it might cause James more pain than it was worth.

Bond turned to face her. "Imagine your heart shattering into a million pieces that is how I felt."

"Well, that's exactly how I'm feeling now." Penny exclaimed with a single tear running down her cheek.

"The day of the wedding, for the first time in my life I felt special, I felt like someone actually truly loved me." Penny continued trying to fight back her tears. "And then when I found him dead, it was like someone had put a dagger through my heart and drained all my hopes and ideas of feeling special. The nail had been hammered firmly into the coffin." She cried.

"But Penny to me you are special." Bond suddenly said.

Penny looked at how serious he sounded and stood up and ran to the bathroom and locked herself in and continued crying. Bond was confused and felt like he had hurt her even more but had no idea what to do. He knocked on the door and waited.

"Penny, please open the door, I don't like to see you in this state."

There was a dead silence apart from her crying which filled Bond's head like a deafening scream. Then suddenly the phone rang and at first he was hesitant as to whether to answer it. Then after a few rings he ran and answered it. After a brief conversation he put the phone down and walked back to the bathroom where the sound of Penny crying still filled Bond's head.

"Penny that was M, he wants me to head over to the office because he thinks they might have found something out about this organisation. Will you be ok here or would you like to come with me?"

There was dead silence this time and Bond's words were echoed around the now silent flat and he felt like he was talking to a brick wall. He sighed and grabbed his coat and car keys. When Penny still didn't answer he slammed the front door shut. He felt like kicking himself for all the stupid things he had said to her and for leaving her on her own but M's voice had sounded serious on the phone and it was his duty to attend the meeting.

Penny sat slumped by the bath back at the flat. "James, I love you." She stuttered, knowing full well that he had left.

She reached for a tissue to wipe her eyes and her now smudged mascara. She slowly stood up and began to attempt to fix her hair and wipe away the last of the tears that had flooded her cheeks and eyes. She unlocked the bathroom door and glanced to see an empty flat and sighed. She walked back over to the two framed photos from her wedding and stared at both for a minute. Then in an act of fury smashed the photo of her and Matthew on the floor and threw it straight in the bin. She then looked back at the photo of her, James, M and Q and smiled and put it on top of the fire place. She finished unpacking the rest of the boxes and then sat on the Chaise Longue not knowing what to do next.

Meanwhile, Bond had hit the morning traffic and sat with gritted teeth in his Aston Martin halfway down Kings Road, Chelsea. Suddenly he caught sight of the driver behind him. It was a large slightly balding Eastern European looking man. The man seemed to be shouting into his mobile and then dropped the phone onto the passenger seat. Bond decided to not take any more notice of the man, until the traffic had eased and the Aston Martin was at last moving towards MI6. But the man, who happened to be driving a black BMW, was still following Bond. Bond decided to take a detour to see if the man would still be following him, and when he was Bond reached for his gun in his shirt pocket. But it was too late, the Aston Martin skidded into an oncoming truck and spun out of control and hit a tree. Then everything went dark.